Smart monitoring safety and quality of life system using sensors

ABSTRACT

A smart monitoring system comprising a plurality of sensor devices within a home or facility, at least one of the plurality of sensor devices comprising sensor elements configured to detect activity of an individual in the home or facility, and a computing device configured to receive activity signals from the plurality of sensor devices associated with the individual, parse the activity signals into scoring components including a sleep score, a motion score, and an event score, compute a current scoring of the individual based on the scoring components, compare the current scoring of the individual to historic scoring and peer scoring, generate a quality of life score for the individual based on the based on the comparison, and process a clinical analysis of the individual based on the quality of life score, the clinical analysis including graphical representations of the quality of life score and the scoring components.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is related to the following patents andapplications, which are assigned to the assignee of the presentinvention:

-   -   a. U.S. Pat. No. 7,477,285, filed Dec. 12, 2003, entitled        “Non-intrusive data transmission network for use in an        enterprise facility and method for implementing,”    -   b. U.S. Pat. No. 8,471,899, filed Oct. 27, 2009, entitled        “System and method for documenting patient procedures,”    -   c. U.S. Pat. No. 8,675,059, filed Jul. 29, 2010, entitled        “System and method for using a video monitoring system to        prevent and manage decubitus ulcers in patients,”    -   d. U.S. Pat. No. 8,676,603, filed Jun. 21, 2013, entitled        “System and method for documenting patient procedures,”    -   e. U.S. Pat. No. 9,041,810, filed Jul. 1, 2014, entitled “System        and method for predicting patient falls,”    -   f. U.S. application Ser. No. 12/151,452, filed May 6, 2008,        entitled “System and method for predicting patient falls,”    -   g. U.S. application Ser. No. 14/039,931, filed Sep. 27, 2013,        entitled “System and method for monitoring a fall state of a        patient while minimizing false alarms,”    -   h. U.S. application Ser. No. 13/429,101, filed Mar. 23, 2012,        entitled “Noise Correcting Patient Fall Risk State System and        Method for Predicting Patient Falls,”    -   i. U.S. application Ser. No. 13/714,587, filed Dec. 14, 2012,        entitled “Electronic Patient Sitter Management System and Method        for Implementing,”    -   j. U.S. application Ser. No. 14/158,016, filed Jan. 17, 2014,        entitled “Patient video monitoring systems and methods having        detection algorithm recovery from changes in illumination,”    -   k. U.S. application Ser. No. 14/188,396, filed Feb. 24, 2014,        entitled “System and method for using a video monitoring system        to prevent and manage decubitus ulcers in patients,”    -   l. U.S. application Ser. No. 14/213,163, filed Mar. 13, 2014,        entitled “System and method for documenting patient procedures,”    -   m. U.S. application Ser. No. 14/209,726, filed Mar. 14, 2014,        entitled “Systems and methods for dynamically identifying a        patient support surface and patient monitoring,”    -   n. U.S. application Ser. No. 14/710,009, filed May 12, 2015,        entitled “Electronic Patient Sitter Management System and Method        for Implementing,”    -   o. U.S. application Ser. No. 15/332,283, filed Oct. 24, 2016,        filed Oct. 22, 2015, entitled “PATIENT VIDEO MONITORING SYSTEMS        AND METHODS FOR THERMAL DETECTION OF LIQUIDS,” and    -   p. U.S. application Ser. No. 15/364,872, filed Nov. 20, 2016,        entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PREDICTING PATIENT FALLS,” the        disclosure of which are hereby incorporated by reference in        their entirety.

This application claims the priority of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/689,281, filed on Jun. 25, 2018, entitled “SMART MONITORING SAFETYSYSTEM USING SENSORS,” the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

The above identified patents and applications are incorporated byreference herein in their entirety.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material,which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

This application generally relates to a smart monitoring system, and inparticular, a plurality of devices, including intelligent-sensingnetwork-connected devices, that communicate with each other and/or witha central server or a cloud-computing system to provide safety andimproved quality of life.

Description of the Related Art

Healthcare monitoring suffers from the disadvantage of requiring staffif the monitoring is to be in the form of direct observation. Aclosed-circuit visual and/or audio feed monitor requires a caregiver tobe vigilant about monitoring the feed to sense the problem in thedistant room. Thus, the trend in patient monitoring has been toward theuse of electrical devices to signal changes in a patient's circumstanceto a caregiver who might be located either nearby or remotely at acentral monitoring facility, such as a nurse's station. An automatedhospital care system improves quality of care and reduces chance forerrors.

Patients are increasingly being monitored, cared for, and/or treatedoutside a conventional hospital environment. For example, homehealthcare is growing trend wherein patients are monitored and treatedfrom their homes. Home healthcare is generally less expensive and alsofrees up hospital resources allowing the hospital to focus on patientswith more critical needs. However, among other worries, family membersand health care professionals are concerned about patient forgetfulness(e.g., not remembering to take medication), confusion (e.g., taking anincorrect dosage of medication), wellness monitoring (e.g., making surethe patient has not become incapacitated), and ability to summon help(e.g., sending an alarm in an emergency). Thus, there exists a need fora smart monitoring system that would address and solve theabove-described problems to improve safety and quality of life.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present application discloses a smart monitoring system comprising aplurality of sensor devices within a home or facility, at least one ofthe plurality of sensor devices comprising sensor elements configured todetect activity of an individual in the home or facility, and acomputing device configured to receive activity signals from theplurality of sensor devices associated with the individual from the homeor facility, parse the activity signals into scoring components bycorrelating the plurality of sensor devices to the scoring components,the scoring components including a sleep score, a motion score, and anevent score, compute a current scoring of the individual based on thescoring components, compare the current scoring of the individual tohistoric scoring and peer scoring, generate a quality of life score forthe individual based on the based on the comparison, and process aclinical analysis of the individual based on the quality of life score,the clinical analysis including graphical representations of the qualityof life score and the scoring components.

The activity signals may include utilization of appliances and motion ingiven rooms or areas. The computer device may be further configured tointerpret activities based on type and location of the plurality ofsensor devices. The activities may include walking, sleeping, eating,exercise, and bathroom activities. The current scoring of the individualmay comprise a total of current scores of the scoring components. In oneembodiment, the historic scoring includes a comparison of the scoringcomponents with a historical set of scoring components associated withthe individual. The peer scoring may include a comparison of the scoringcomponents with scoring components of other individuals. The otherindividuals may be selected from a subset of a population according toone or more of age, race, sex, and location.

The quality of life score may comprise a weighted average or sum of thescoring components of the current scoring, the historic scoring, and thepeer scoring. The computing device may further determine incidents ofpanic and decreases the quality of life score based on the incidents ofpanic. The computing device may further determine trends associated withhealth and safety conditions from the activity signals. The trends caninclude behaviors in eating, sleeping, mobility and hygiene.

In certain embodiments, the appliances and fixtures are selected fromthe group consisting of a toilet, a door, a window, a refrigerator, atelevision remote, and a medicine cabinet. The computing device mayreceive activity signals from a sensor device coupled to a handle of thetoilet, and determines flushing of the toilet based on the activitysignals from the sensor device coupled to the handle of the toilet.Another embodiment may include the computing device receiving activitysignals from a sensor device coupled to the door, and determining anopening or closing of the door based on the activity signals from thesensor device coupled to the door. Yet another embodiment includes thecomputing device receiving activity signals from a sensor device coupledto the window, and determining an opening or closing of the window basedon the activity signals from the sensor device coupled to the window.

The computing device may also receive activity signals from a sensordevice coupled to the refrigerator, and determine an opening or closingof the refrigerator based on the activity signals from the sensor devicecoupled to the refrigerator. The computing device is also able toreceive activity signals from a sensor device coupled to the televisionremote, and determine watching of a television based on the activitysignals from the sensor device coupled to the television remote.Additionally, the computing device can be configured to receive activitysignals from a sensor device coupled to the medicine cabinet, anddetermine an individual taking medicine based on the activity signalsfrom the sensor device coupled to the medicine cabinet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is illustrated in the figures of the accompanying drawingswhich are meant to be exemplary and not limiting, in which likereferences are intended to refer to like or corresponding parts, and inwhich:

FIG. 1 illustrates a smart monitoring environment according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a networked system according to an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic overview of a sensor device according toan embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of a method for analyzing data receivedfrom devices of a smart monitoring environment according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates scoring components for quality of life assessmentaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of a method for assessing quality of lifeaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 presents an exemplary clinical analysis report according to anembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Subject matter will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, andwhich show, by way of illustration, exemplary embodiments in which theinvention may be practiced. Subject matter may, however, be embodied ina variety of different forms and, therefore, covered or claimed subjectmatter is intended to be construed as not being limited to any exampleembodiments set forth herein; example embodiments are provided merely tobe illustrative. It is to be understood that other embodiments may beutilized and structural changes may be made without departing from thescope of the present invention. Likewise, a reasonably broad scope forclaimed or covered subject matter is intended. Throughout thespecification and claims, terms may have nuanced meanings suggested orimplied in context beyond an explicitly stated meaning. Likewise, thephrase “in one embodiment” as used herein does not necessarily refer tothe same embodiment and the phrase “in another embodiment” as usedherein does not necessarily refer to a different embodiment. It isintended, for example, that claimed subject matter include combinationsof exemplary embodiments in whole or in part. Among other things, forexample, subject matter may be embodied as methods, devices, components,or systems. Accordingly, embodiments may, for example, take the form ofhardware, software, firmware or any combination thereof (other thansoftware per se). The following detailed description is, therefore, notintended to be taken in a limiting sense.

The present disclosure relates to facilitating management of healthcare,safety, and well-being, including monitoring and assessing the qualityof patient care, and provides data, reports, analytics, etc. relatedthereto. The invention provides embodiments of systems and methods whichfacilitate management of health care at home or provided by a facility,e.g., assisted living or long-term care homes. Embodiments of thepresent disclosure generally relate to a plurality of devices, includingintelligent-sensing network-connected devices, that communicate witheach other and/or with a central server or a cloud-computing system formonitoring and assessing safety and quality of life of patients orcared-for individuals. In particular, a smart monitoring environment isdisclosed that increases awareness around an individual and improvessafety by leveraging multiple sensors that work in conjunction to helpidentify and describe information about the individual, specificallywith regards to safety and quality of life.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a smart monitoring environmentaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. The depicted smartmonitoring environment includes a structure 100, which can include,e.g., a house, office building, assisted living and/or long-term carefacility, mobile home, or any other dwelling environment. The smartmonitoring environment of FIG. 1 includes a plurality of sensor devices104 a-104 n comprised of intelligent-sensing network-connected devices,that can integrate seamlessly with each other and/or with a centralserver or a cloud-computing system. The depicted structure 100 includesa plurality of rooms where the sensor devices 104 a-104 n can be mountedon, integrated with and/or supported by a wall, floor, or ceiling.

In some embodiments, sensor devices 104 a-104 n may comprise room motionsensors, individual safety sensors, individual location sensors,appliance/fixture sensors, and any combination thereof. Room motionsensors may comprise devices that connect a passive infrared sensor(PIR) to a component able to communicate with local gateway 102 viawireless communication technology such as Bluetooth low energy (LE),IEEE 802.11, or other means of data transmission. In some embodiments, aplurality of local gateways may be deployed to improve coverage andperformance in receiving signals from the plurality of sensor devices104 a-104 n. For example, a local gateway may be deployed on each floorof a house. A sensor device including a room motion sensor may look formotion in a room and report measurements to local gateway 102. Forexample, sensor devices 104 c, 104 d, 104 f, 104 e, 104 h, 1041, and 104m, may comprise at least room motion sensors for determining occupancyof given rooms or areas within structure 100. Positioning of sensordevices can be mapped to a blueprint of a room, floor, dwelling, orbuilding to increase accuracy of information and help interested partiesunderstand where motion is occurring. In one embodiment, the sensorsdevices may be tagged, assigned, or programmed in accordance to theirphysical locations or proximity to given objects, such as beds,appliances, fixtures, etc.

A sensor device including individual safety sensors may comprise devicesincluding one or more push buttons (e.g., a panic button) connected to abeacon component able to communicate with local gateway 102 via wirelesscommunication technology. A button of the individual safety sensor maycapture and immediately notify interested parties when pushed by theindividual, of an emergency or when in need of immediate help. Accordingto one embodiment, during button press of the individual safety sensors,a light-emitting diode (LED) light may illuminate in lock step withbutton press for comfort feedback. Alternatively, the LED light mayblink (as opposed to a steady light) for power conservation and bettervisual feedback. Blinking of the LED light may further avoidsimultaneous LED light and radio power consumption from communicationwith local gateway 102 by alternating intervals between wirelesstransmissions and LED light blinking.

Upon button press, a beacon signal may be communicated to local gateway102. The beacon signal may include button press duration to conveyurgency and/or uniquely identify events or devices. Beacon signals maybe received by multiple local gateways to improve detection rate. Acentral server may receive the beacon signals and de-duplicate them frommultiple gateways before analysis. An event counter (e.g., number ofunique button presses) and button press duration may be usedalgorithmically by the server to interpret the beacon signals. Thecentral server may include data analytics or artificial intelligencethat can be used to interpret button press urgency from the eventcounter and button press duration. For instance, a brief button presscould be interpreted as an accidental button press white repeated rapidor lengthy button presses may indicate urgency and an emergency.

Appliance/fixture sensors may comprise accelerometers connected to acomponent able to communicate with the local gateway 102 via wirelesscommunication technology. Accelerometer motion detected by theappliance/fixture sensors can indicate certain events. For example,sensor device 104 j may be an appliance/fixture sensor mounted on thetoilet handle to detect movement, where movement corresponds to anindividual flushing the toilet. Other examples of appliance/fixturesensors may include: sensor device 104 a adhered to a door can indicatewhen a door has been opened, closed, or broken; sensor device 104 badhered to a window can indicate when a window has been opened, closed,or broken; sensor device 104 n adhered to a kitchen appliance, such as,a refrigerator, can indicate when the refrigerator has been opened andclosed; sensor device 104 g adhered to an entertainment device, such as,a television remote, can indicate usage/watching of television; andsensor device 104 i adhered to a medicine cabinet can indicate anindividual taking medicine.

In certain embodiments, the smart monitoring environment may furtherinclude near-field sensor devices that may uniquely identify some actionwith a person (family, caregiver, individual) or object (medication,asset). The near-field sensor devices may detect signals from wirelesstransmitter devices, such as RFID (radio-frequency identification), wornby or attached to people or objects. For example, a near-field sensordevice may notify that a caregiver entered and left the room, or that anindividual took medication at a given time. A near-field sensor devicemay comprise a device that connects a near-field communication (NFC)sensor to a component able to communicate with the local gateway 102 viawireless communication technology.

According to another embodiment, the smart monitoring environment mayfurther include individual motion sensors comprised of a device thatconnects an accelerometer to a component able to communicate with thelocal gateway 102 via wireless communication technology. The individualmotion sensor may monitor the individual's orientation and motion todetect events. For example, the individual motion sensors can detect apossible fall event from values corresponding to measurements ofmovement matching one or more patterns. Such a sensor can be containedin a water-proof enclosure and, for example, adhered to the back of theindividual's collar or similar fixed apparel on the individual wherebythere should be little error introduced by motion that is not caused bymovement of the body.

Additional types of sensors and actuators can include, but are notlimited to: cameras, thermal imaging, bed sensors (e.g., 104 k),microphone, speaker, touch screen display, and thermometer/thermostatthat may be applied, attached, or integrated with to stoves and/orovens, washers, dryers, indoor or outdoor lighting, stereos, intercomsystems, gated entries, garage-door openers, floor fans, ceiling fans,wall air conditioners, pool heaters, irrigation systems, securitysystems, safes, and so forth. Individual location sensors may comprisedevices that identify a current location of an individual andcommunicates with local gateway 102 via wireless communicationtechnology. For the purpose of improving accuracy, the system can relyon the position of any fixed-location component, such as the localgateway 102 or a room motion sensor. Any of the sensors describedherewith may exist independently or be combined in a single enclosure,such as combining an individual location sensor with an individualmotion sensor and/or an individual safety sensor.

It should be appreciated that the smart monitoring environment mayfurther include areas outside the home, such as curtilage, the yard, andother nearby land. Further, the smart monitoring environment can controland/or be coupled to devices and sensors outside of the actual structure100. Several devices in the smart monitoring environment need notphysically be within the structure 100. For example, a devicecontrolling an outdoor lighting system or gated entry system can belocated outside of the structure 100.

By leveraging multiple sensors, individuals can be monitored withinstructure 100 for their safety and to improve their quality of life. Inaddition to containing processing and sensing capabilities, each of thesensor devices are capable of data communications and informationsharing with any other of the sensor devices, as well as to any centralserver or cloud-computing system or any other device. Family and/orcaregivers can review information that is collected to determine if theindividual is behaving normally or not. As an example, if the individualtypically leaves their room three hours per day, but suddenly showsleaving for only one hour per day then those connected to the individualcan be notified. Events, such as falls or other potentiallylife-threatening events, may also be recorded and used to notifyfamilies and/or caregivers. Families and/or caregivers can log into aweb portal or mobile application to review observed information, trendsand notifications generated from the sensor devices. This informationmay be presented in the form of graphs showing trends, as well as asimple numerical value or score that identifies risk to safety anddeviation from normal observations.

FIG. 2 presents a networked system including a plurality of devices froma smart monitoring environment such as the one illustrated in FIG. 1.Sensor devices 202 a, 202 b, and 202 c and local gateway 206 may beinstalled within a home or facility to monitor elderly or disabledindividuals living in the home or facility. Sensor devices 202 a, 202 b,and 202 c can communicate with each other and with local gateway 206through local network 204 wirelessly via Bluetooth LE, IEEE 802.11, orother transmission methods. Local gateway 206 may comprise a device atthe individual's residence or room that collects information from thesensor devices. Local gateway 206 may include or may be communicativelyconnected to processor and memory devices that may be used to access,setup, or program sensor devices 202 a, 202 b, and 202 c. The collectedinformation may be communicated through the external network 208 viaEthernet, 802.11 wireless, or other means of transmission, from localgateway 206 to central aggregator server (or cloud-computing system) 210for storage and processing.

External network 208 may be any suitable type of network allowingtransport of data communications across thereof. The external network208 may couple devices so that communications may be exchanged, such asbetween servers and client devices or other types of devices, includingbetween wireless devices coupled via a wireless network, for example. Anetwork may also include mass storage, such as network attached storage(NAS), a storage area network (SAN), cloud computing and storage, orother forms of computer or machine readable media, for example. In oneembodiment, the network may be the Internet, following known Internetprotocols for data communication, or any other communication network,e.g., any local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN)connection, cellular network, wire-line type connections, wireless typeconnections, or any combination thereof. Communications and contentstored and/or transmitted to and from client devices may be encryptedusing, for example, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with a256-bit key size, or any other encryption standard known in the art.

The central aggregator server 210 may include data storage and means ofdata analysis that collates information from sensors 202 a, 202 b, and202 c gathered via local gateway 206. The central aggregator server 210can be hosted at the facility or may exist as a cloud-based service. Forexample, central aggregator server 210 may comprise at least aspecial-purpose digital computing device including at least one or morecentral processing units and memory. The special-purpose digitalcomputing device may also include one or more of mass storage devices,power supplies, wired or wireless network interfaces, input/outputinterfaces, and operating systems, such as Windows Server, Mac OS X,Unix, Linux, FreeBSD, or the like.

Central aggregator server 210 can generate data, statistics, andnotifications from the collated information. Data from sensor devices202 a, 202 b, and 202 c may be analyzed, for example, in combinationwith rules-based inference engines and/or artificial intelligence and/orany suitable smart environment data. Sensor devices 202 a, 202 b, and202 c may be configured with unique identifiers, labels, or tagsassociated with certain rooms, zones, locations, or appliances. As such,sensor devices 202 a, 202 b, and 202 c may be distinguishable toartificial intelligence/machine learning systems and users.Additionally, central aggregator server 210 may correlate the sensordevices 202 a, 202 b, and 202 c with programmable rules and triggersbased on the unique identifiers, labels, or tags (or rooms, zones,locations, or appliances). A machine learning system may use data fromthe sensor devices 202 a, 202 b, and 202 c and correlate them to certainlocations or objects for training and classification.

Central aggregator server 210 is operative to receive requests fromremote monitor client 212 and process the requests to generate responsesto the remote monitor client 212 across the external network 208. Thecentral aggregator server 210 may provide analysis, recording of data,alerts, and messages associated with activity from sensor devices 202 a,202 b, and 202 c to the remote monitor client 212. Data generated bycentral aggregator server 210 may be accessed by a remote monitor client212 using a web portal and/or mobile application. Remote monitor client212 may be used by families and/or caregivers to reviewserver/artificial intelligence-observed information from the sensordevices, trends, and notifications generated based on information fromthe sensor devices useful for monitoring an observed individual, suchas, a patient or elderly person, to ensure their well-being and safety.For example, family members can check on the individual from theirmobile phone, and receive alerts when certain patterns or conditionsoccur.

The central aggregator server 210 may be associated with a manufacturer,support entity, or service provider associated with thenetwork-connected sensor devices. For one embodiment, a user may be ableto contact local law enforcement and other emergency or securitypersonnel as well as contact customer support at a service providerusing one of the network-connected sensor devices itself rather thanneeding to use other communication means such as a telephone orInternet-connected computer. Additionally, central aggregator server 210may also contact or send a signal to one of sensor devices 202 a, 202 b,202 c, or a communication device upon triggering programmable rules ortriggers. In one embodiment, a programmable rule or trigger may be basedon a monitored individual's quality of life score. According to analternative embodiment, functionality of the central aggregator server210 may be optionally replaced by the local gateway 206. Such a changeeffectively decentralizes the data so that local gateway 206 can hostthe data, present the web portal, and provide a means for a mobileapplication to communicate with.

Remote monitor client 212 may comprise computing devices (e.g., desktopcomputers, television set top boxes, terminals, laptops, personaldigital assistants (PDA), cell phones, smartphones, tablet computers,e-book readers, smart watches and wearable devices, or any computingdevice having a central processing unit and memory unit capable ofconnecting to a network). Client devices may also comprise a graphicaluser interface (GUI) or a browser application provided on a display(e.g., monitor screen, LCD or LED display, projector, etc.). A clientdevice may also include or execute an application to communicatecontent, such as, for example, textual content, multimedia content, orthe like. A client device may include or execute a variety of operatingsystems, including a personal computer operating system, such as aWindows, Mac OS or Linux, or a mobile operating system, such as iOS,Android, or Windows Mobile, or the like.

FIG. 3 presents a schematic overview of a sensor device 300 according toan embodiment of the present invention. Sensor device 300 comprisessensor element(s) 304. According to one embodiment, the sensor device300 may be an accelerometer-based movement sensor device. For example,sensor 300 may include sensor element(s) 304 comprising a movementsensor element containing an accelerometer and associated movementdetection circuiting. As discussed above, the sensor device 300 maycontain additional sensors of a different or second type in one or moreembodiments. Such second type of sensors may be motion sensors,on-person worn sensors or other sensors known in the art. Such secondtype sensors may be dedicated sensors used for detecting a specificaction that the sensor was designed to detect.

The sensor device 300 further comprises a controller 302, which may beimplemented as one or more processors (CPU) or programmable logiccircuits (PLC), which is connected to or comprises a memory 308. Thememory may be implemented using any commonly known technology forelectronic device memories such as read-only memory (ROM), random-accessmemory (RAM), static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), complementarymetal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS), flash memory, synchronous dynamicrandom-access memory (SDRAM), double data rate (DDR) SDRAM, or someother memory technology. The memory 308 is configured to store adefinition of certain patterns to be detected. The sensor device 300also comprises a communication interface 306. The communicationinterface may be a wireless radio frequency interface such as aBluetooth or a IEEE 802.11 standard link. The communication interface306 may also be a wired interface.

The controller 302 is configured to receive a sensing signal from thesensor element(s) 304 and to compare the signal to the definition of thepatterns stored in the memory 308. If the signal matches the pattern, anevent is detected. In response to a detected pattern, the controller 302may be configured to activate the communication interface 306 andtransmit a detection signal to one or more local gateways. Wirelesscommunication transmissions from a sensor device 300 may also beincreased to improve detection. For example, a sensor device may startat a lower rate for battery conservation and increased gradually orimmediately to improve chances of detection and reduce time ofdetection.

The sensor device 300 may be powered by a power supply 310, such as abattery, a solar cell or other power supply. In certain embodiments, asensor device may increase transmission power to improve detectionduring button presses (e.g., individual safety sensors). For example,the sensor device may start at a lower transmission power for batteryconservation and gradually or immediately increase transmission power toimprove a chance to detect transmissions from the sensor device. Forexample, a gradual increase may include a transmission at −20 dBm to −4dBm and then to +4 dBm; and an immediate increase may include atransmission at −20 dBm to +4 dBm. Increases in transmission powerduring button presses may also be used to improve triangulation. Forexample, sensor devices may transmit a few signals at a variety ofincreasing power levels over time. Transmission power levels of sensordevices may be collected and used in analytics. Signals transmitted fromsensor devices may also include event counters, tokens or identifiers tounique identify events from each sensor device at local gateways. Theevent counters, tokens or identifier may also help distinguish separatebutton presses (e.g., short press vs. long press, single-press vs.double-press, etc.).

FIG. 4 presents a flowchart of a method for analyzing data received fromdevices of a smart monitoring environment according to an embodiment ofthe present invention. One or more event signals are received bycomputing device such as a central aggregator server (or a local gatewayin certain embodiments), step 402. The signals may be an aggregation ofsignals from sensor devices of a smart monitoring environment. A givensignal received by the computing device may include data or indicationsof events associated with a specific function of a sensor device (e.g.,motion, presence, location, usage, an alert, etc.).

A collection of data is generated with the event signals, step 404. Thecollection of data may be stored in a database. The collection of dataincluding the event signals is analyzed by the computing device, step406. The analysis may include artificial intelligence determining trendsassociated with health and safety conditions (e.g., quality of life)from the event signals such as behaviors in eating, sleeping, mobility,hygiene, to name a few. Data from the event signals may be correlatedwith the trends based on rules and/or artificial intelligence.

Analytics and pattern data are generated based the analysis of thecollection of data, step 408. The analytics and pattern data may includelogs, charts, graphs, and warnings based on the results of the analysis.The presence of abnormalities in the analytics and pattern data aredetermined by the computing device, step 410. The computing devicegenerates a notification if there is a presence of abnormalities, suchas warnings, in the analytics and pattern data, step 412.

A smart monitoring environment may utilize sensors to collectinformation about monitored individuals, specifically with regards totheir quality of life. According to certain embodiments, the disclosedsystem may comprise a plurality of sensor devices in different homes orfacilities, including intelligent-sensing network-connected devices,that communicate with a central server or a cloud-computing system thatmonitors and assesses quality of life among a plurality of patients orcared-for individuals. The system may aggregate and analyze sensor datafrom multiple homes or facilities to compute individual, community, anduniversal statistics. Statistics may include averages and standarddeviations for any detected activity on an individual basis, communitybasis, or universal basis.

The detected activity may correspond to one or more scoring componentsthat can be used to calculate a quality of life score. Examples ofscoring components may include scores that measure quality of sleep,motion, and other activities or attributes that affect quality of life.For example, a given individual's current levels of activity (e.g.,current scores of a plurality of scoring components) may be used tocompute a score (e.g., on a 0-100 scale) that shows the quality of lifeof the individual. The score may be compared against averages andstandard deviations of the individual's level of activity over a periodof time and/or compared to other monitored individuals of similar ages,demographic groups, etc.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, a set of scoring components may be computedagainst a weighted average to generate a cumulative score by using forexample, a combination of current scores of scoring components (e.g.,the last 24 hours), the scoring components with the current scorescompared to a previous month, and the scoring components with thecurrent scores compared to peers (e.g., an average over a given period).Sleep, motion, and event score components for a current score may beweighted at 20%, 10%, and 10%, respectively. While score componentscompared to the previous month and compared to peers may be weighted at10% each. Combining all of the score components may give a maximumcumulative score of 100%. Incidents of panic (e.g., determined fromactivity signals or indicated by an individual via panic button press)may decrease or negatively affect the cumulative score by, for example,10 points.

Each individual being monitored may be provided a means, such as devicesincluding a panic button, to notify emergency response personnel, staff,caregivers, family members, etc., of the need for immediate interventionto keep the individuals safe or rescue them from a dangerous situation.Typical uses for a panic button include, but are not limited to, falls,sudden unexpected inability to meet personal care needs, and chest painor dizziness indicating an emergency medical event. Panic buttonengagement may impact an individual's overall quality of life score.

FIG. 6 presents a flowchart of a method for assessing quality of lifeaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. A centralizedserver may be configured to monitor activities of individuals in homesand facilities. Activity from a given home or facility may be used toassess and monitor an individual's quality of life. An individual'squality of life may be measured in terms of general well-being that isexperienced by the individual as perceived by sensors. Activity signalsare received from a plurality of sensors associated with the individualfrom a given one of a plurality of homes and facilities, step 602. Theactivity signals may comprise detection by the plurality of sensors ofutilization of various appliances, and/or motion in given rooms or areasof a home or facility. Activity signals may be correlated with dailyactivities performed by a monitored individual. Daily activities, suchas sleeping, walking, eating, etc., may be used as criteria to determinethe individual's quality of life.

The activity signals are parsed into scoring components, step 604. Anindividual's well-being may be represented by a collective of scoringcomponents that are associated with activities or events related to theindividual. Parsing the activity signals may include using the activitysignals to interpret what an individual is doing on a daily basis thatmay or may not affect their overall well-being. The activity signals mayalso indicate various activities, such as walking, sleeping, eating,exercise, bathroom activities, etc., based on the kind of sensor deviceand location of the sensor the activity signals come from. Datacorresponding to certain activities determined from the signals may besegmented into different scoring components. Activity signals from thesensor devices can be interpreted and used to assign scores toindividual scoring components, such as a sleep score, a motion score,and an event score. As such, specific activity signals from the sensordevices may be correlated to different scoring components. For example,sensor devices in the bedroom may be correlated and contributed to thesleep score.

A current scoring of the individual is computed based on the scoringcomponents, step 606. For example, the current scoring of the individualmay comprise a total of current points assigned to a sleep score, amotion score, and an event score. The current scoring of the individualis compared to historic scoring and peer scoring, step 608. Comparingthe current scoring to historic scoring may include comparing points ofthe scoring components with one or more historical sets of points of thescoring components that were assigned to the individual in the past,e.g., a month ago, and generating historic score components (e.g.,sleep, motion, and event) based on the comparison. A comparison of thecurrent scoring to peer scoring may include comparing the currentscoring with current scoring of other individuals within the pluralityof homes and facilities monitored by the centralized server andgenerating peer score components (e.g., sleep, motion, and event) basedon the comparison. The other individuals may be a subset of a populationselected according to age, race, sex, location, etc.

A quality of life score is generated for the individual based on thecomparison, step 610. The quality of life score may be a weightedaverage or sum of the scoring components of the current scoring, thehistoric score components, and the peer score components. For example,the quality of life score may comprise an indicator having a numericassignment on a 100-point scale by capturing weighted averages ofcritical indicators such as panic button use, abnormal triggers, andsleep quality and compares these combined weighted averages againstmarkers, such as the individual's own historical or baseline scores andthe score(s) of normally healthy peers. A clinical analysis of theindividual is processed based on the quality of life score, step 612.The clinical analysis may include an overall assessment of theindividual's well-being over time based on factors (or scoringcomponents), such as panic button use, triggers, sleep quality, and thequality of life score. Processing of the clinical analysis may includegenerating graphical representations of the quality of life score andscoring components used to calculate the quality of life score.

FIG. 7 presents an exemplary clinical analysis report for a given periodaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. An individual maybe provided a panic button or a means to notify staff of the need forimmediate intervention to keep them safe or rescue them from a dangeroussituation. Typical uses for the panic button include, but are notlimited to, falls, sudden unexpected inability to meet personal careneeds, and chest pain or dizziness indicating an emergency medicalevent. Referring to FIG. 7, during the report period, the individual mayhave engaged the panic button twice in January and twice in March for atotal of four (4) times. The events in March were on the same day.Clinical staff should provide details regarding the reasons and outcomesof the panic button engagement. Panic button engagement can impact theindividual's overall quality of life score.

Triggers may include behaviors registered by the disclosed system thatfall outside typically normal behavior, such as panic button use,sleeping longer than 12 consecutive hours, sleeping past 8:00 a.m., andno routine medications taken in a 24-hour period. Triggers that are notcaptured as panic button engagements may further impact the individual'squality of life score (panic button engagements impact the quality oflife score but are not counted as triggers to prevent duplication). Asillustrated in FIG. 7, during this report period, the system registeredfour (4) trigger events. The details of these events may be listed onthe clinical report (e.g., “incidents”).

Sleep quality is another factor that may impact the individual's qualityof life score. Sleep quality may be measured by the amount/length ofuninterrupted sleep and the depth of sleep as captured by movementduring sleep. A sleep quality index may be measured on a 100-point scaleeach day and averaged for measurement periods greater than daily, forexample. According to FIG. 7, the individual may have experiencedrelatively poor sleep quality in the month of January but hasexperienced significant improvement through February and March yieldinga score of 100 by the end of March.

Based on the above factors, the individual's quality of life indicatormay indicate that the individual has experienced significant improvementin his/her quality of life score over the 3-month reporting periodmirroring the improvement in sleep quality despite two (2) panic buttonengagements and two (2) additional triggers in March. In the illustratedexample, the individual is enjoying a quality of life score that is apersonal improvement and is aligned with the peer group.

FIGS. 1 through 7 are conceptual illustrations allowing for anexplanation of the present invention. Notably, the figures and examplesabove are not meant to limit the scope of the present invention to asingle embodiment, as other embodiments are possible by way ofinterchange of some or all of the described or illustrated elements.Moreover, where certain elements of the present invention can bepartially or fully implemented using known components, only thoseportions of such known components that are necessary for anunderstanding of the present invention are described, and detaileddescriptions of other portions of such known components are omitted soas not to obscure the invention. In the present specification, anembodiment showing a singular component should not necessarily belimited to other embodiments including a plurality of the samecomponent, and vice-versa, unless explicitly stated otherwise herein.Moreover, applicants do not intend for any term in the specification orclaims to be ascribed an uncommon or special meaning unless explicitlyset forth as such. Further, the present invention encompasses presentand future known equivalents to the known components referred to hereinby way of illustration.

It should be understood that various aspects of the embodiments of thepresent invention could be implemented in hardware, firmware, software,or combinations thereof. In such embodiments, the various componentsand/or steps would be implemented in hardware, firmware, and/or softwareto perform the functions of the present invention. That is, the samepiece of hardware, firmware, or module of software could perform one ormore of the illustrated blocks (e.g., components or steps). In softwareimplementations, computer software (e.g., programs or otherinstructions) and/or data is stored on a machine readable medium as partof a computer program product, and is loaded into a computer system orother device or machine via a removable storage drive, hard drive, orcommunications interface. Computer programs (also called computercontrol logic or computer readable program code) are stored in a mainand/or secondary memory, and executed by one or more processors(controllers, or the like) to cause the one or more processors toperform the functions of the invention as described herein. In thisdocument, the terms “machine readable medium,” “computer readablemedium,” “computer program medium,” and “computer usable medium” areused to generally refer to media such as a RAM; a ROM; a removablestorage unit (e.g., a magnetic or optical disc, flash memory device, orthe like); a hard disk; or the like.

The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fullyreveal the general nature of the invention that others can, by applyingknowledge within the skill of the relevant art(s) (including thecontents of the documents cited and incorporated by reference herein),readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specificembodiments, without undue experimentation, without departing from thegeneral concept of the present invention. Such adaptations andmodifications are therefore intended to be within the meaning and rangeof equivalents of the disclosed embodiments, based on the teaching andguidance presented herein. It is to be understood that the phraseologyor terminology herein is for the purpose of description and not oflimitation, such that the terminology or phraseology of the presentspecification is to be interpreted by the skilled artisan in light ofthe teachings and guidance presented herein, in combination with theknowledge of one skilled in the relevant art(s).

What is claimed is:
 1. A smart monitoring system, the system comprising:a plurality of sensor devices within a home or facility, at least one ofthe plurality of sensor devices comprising at least one near-fieldsensor device, the at least one near-field sensor device configured todetect signals from one or more wireless transmitter devices coupled toan individual in the home or facility; and a computing device configuredto: receive activity signals from the plurality of sensor devices, theactivity signals including detected signals from the one or morewireless transmitter devices indicating a presence of the individual,and sensor data comprising values representative of measurements ofmovement associated with the presence of the individual and indicatingusage of given ones of appliances and fixtures, wherein the usage of thegiven ones of the appliances and fixtures includes a button press and apress duration that is representative of urgency unique to the givenones of the appliances and fixtures; parse the activity signals intoscoring components by correlating the sensor data from the plurality ofsensor devices to the scoring components, the scoring componentsincluding a sleep score, a motion score, and an event score; compute acurrent scoring of the individual based on the scoring components;compare the current scoring of the individual to historic scoring of theindividual and peer scoring of the individual, the historic scoring andthe peer scoring computed based on the scoring components; generate aquality of life score for the individual based on the current scoringand using the comparison as a baseline; process a clinical analysis ofthe individual based on the quality of life score, the clinical analysisincluding graphical representations of the quality of life score, thescoring components, and a trend associated with the individual's healthbased on the event signals, the trend including the indication of usageof the given ones of the appliances and fixtures corresponding to thepresence of the individual and a distinctive press duration thatindicates an emergency; generate notifications for an alarm based on apresence of abnormalities in the clinical analysis; and transmit thenotifications over a communication network to a client device, whereinthe alarm activates a web interface to cause the alarm to display on theclient device and to enable a connection from the client device to thecomputing device.
 2. The smart monitoring system of claim 1 wherein theactivity signals include utilization of appliances and motion in givenrooms or areas.
 3. The smart monitoring system of claim 1 wherein thecomputer device is further configured to interpret activities based ontype and location of the plurality of sensor devices.
 4. The smartmonitoring system of claim 3 wherein the activities include walking,sleeping, eating, exercise, and bathroom activities.
 5. The smartmonitoring system of claim 1 wherein the current scoring of theindividual comprises a total of current scores of the scoringcomponents.
 6. The smart monitoring system of claim 1 wherein thehistoric scoring includes a comparison of the scoring components with ahistorical set of scoring components associated with the individual. 7.The smart monitoring system of claim 1 wherein the peer scoring includesa comparison of the scoring components with scoring components of otherindividuals.
 8. The smart monitoring system of claim 7 wherein the otherindividuals are selected from a subset of a population according to oneor more of age, race, sex, and location.
 9. The smart monitoring systemof claim 1 wherein the quality of life score comprises a weightedaverage or sum of the scoring components of the current scoring, thehistoric scoring, and the peer scoring.
 10. The smart monitoring systemof claim 1 wherein the computing device further determines incidents ofpanic and decreases the quality of life score based on the incidents ofpanic.
 11. The system of claim 1 wherein the computing device furtherdetermines trends associated with health and safety conditions from theactivity signals.
 12. The system of claim 11 wherein the trends includebehaviors in eating, sleeping, mobility and hygiene.
 13. The system ofclaim 1 wherein the plurality of sensor devices are attached toappliances and fixtures selected from the group consisting of a toilet,a door, a window, a refrigerator, a television remote, and a medicinecabinet.
 14. The system of claim 13 wherein the computing devicefurther: receives activity signals from a sensor device coupled to ahandle of the toilet; and determines a flushing of the toilet based onthe activity signals from the sensor device coupled to the handle of thetoilet.
 15. The system of claim 13 wherein the computing device further:receives activity signals from a sensor device coupled to the door; anddetermines an opening or closing of the door based on the activitysignals from the sensor device coupled to the door.
 16. The system ofclaim 13 wherein the computing device further: receives activity signalsfrom a sensor device coupled to the window; and determines an opening orclosing of the window based on the activity signals from the sensordevice coupled to the window.
 17. The system of claim 13 wherein thecomputing device further: receives activity signals from a sensor devicecoupled to the refrigerator; and determines an opening or closing of therefrigerator based on the activity signals from the sensor devicecoupled to the refrigerator.
 18. The system of claim 13 wherein thecomputing device further: receives activity signals from a sensor devicecoupled to the television remote; and determines watching of atelevision based on the activity signals from the sensor device coupledto the television remote.
 19. The system of claim 13 wherein thecomputing device further: receives activity signals from a sensor devicecoupled to the medicine cabinet; and determines an individual takingmedicine based on the activity signals from the sensor device coupled tothe medicine cabinet.
 20. A method, in a smart monitoring systemcomprising a processor and a memory, for monitoring an individual, themethod comprising: receiving, by a computing device, activity signalsfrom a plurality of sensor devices within a home or facility, theactivity signals including signals from one or more wireless transmitterdevices coupled to an individual indicating a presence of theindividual, and sensor data comprising values representative ofmeasurements of movement associated with the presence of the individualand indicating usage of given ones of appliances and fixtures, whereinthe usage of the given ones of the appliances and fixtures includes abutton press and a press duration that is representative of urgencyunique to the given ones of the appliances and fixtures; parsing, by thecomputing device, the activity signals into scoring components bycorrelating the sensor data from the plurality of sensor devices to thescoring components, the scoring components including a sleep score, amotion score, and an event score; computing, by the computing device, acurrent scoring of the individual based on the scoring components;comparing, by the computing device, the current scoring of theindividual to historic scoring of the individual and peer scoring of theindividual, the historic scoring and the peer scoring computed based onthe scoring components; generating, by the computing device, a qualityof life score for the individual based on the current scoring and usingthe comparison as a baseline; processing, by the computing device, aclinical analysis of the individual based on the quality of life score,the clinical analysis including graphical representations of the qualityof life score, the scoring components, and a trend associated with theindividual's health based on the event signals, the trend including theindication of usage of the given ones of the appliances and fixturescorresponding to the presence of the individual and a distinctive pressduration that indicates an emergency; generating, by the computingdevice, notifications for an alarm based on a presence of abnormalitiesin the clinical analysis; and transmitting, by the computing device, thenotifications over a communication network to a client device, whereinthe alarm activates a web interface to cause the alarm to display on theclient device and to enable a connection from the client device to thecomputing device.